Bobby Sanguinetti

Playing career

Sanguinetti grew up in Lumberton, New Jersey and was a member of the New Jersey Rockets. Sanguinetti's peewee team, the New Jersey Rockets, won the 2001 Tier 1 USA National Championship. In the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, Sanguinetti was selected by the New York Rangers with the 21st pick in the first round. Sanguinetti, who grew up a Ranger fan, has said he tries to model his game after a former Ranger great Brian Leetch, and even wears 22 to pay respect to Brian Leetch (who wore number 2).

Sanguinetti had a breakthrough year during the 2006–07 season, finishing second among all Ontario Hockey League (OHL) defensemen in goals scored (23), and tenth with 53 points. The Owen Sound Attack were eliminated in four games in the playoffs, but Sanguinetti played well, with three goals and three assists in the four games. With his team eliminated], Sanguinetti was called up to the Rangers' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack. In seven regular season games for the team, he put up five assists and had one point in the playoffs. Sanguinetti was signed to his first professional contract in April 2007 by the Rangers. During the 2007-08 Stanley Cup playoffs, Bobby would greet fans outside the arena and sign autographs.

Sanguinetti was promoted to the Rangers for their game on January 10, 2009, but did not play and was returned to Hartford the following day. In 2009, Sanguinetti was selected for the AHL's all-star game, playing for PlanetUSA, along with Russian teammate Artem Anisimov. Sanguinetti had the hardest shot for PlanetUSA in the hardest shot competition.

In the 2009-10 season, Sanguinetti was again selected to the AHL all-star game, and won the fastest skater competition, setting a new AHL record. During the season, he was called up to the Rangers twice, from November 26 to December 1 and from December 16 to December 19. He made his NHL debut on December 27 against the Tampa Bay Lightning, playing 16.14 minutes on 22 shifts. He played a total of 5 games for the Rangers, with no points and four penalty minutes. He took five shots and had an even plus/minus rating.

On June 26, 2010, Sanguinetti was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for a 2nd round draft pick in 2011 and a 6th round draft pick in 2010.

During the lockout-shortened 2012–13 season, Sanguinetti scored his first NHL goal on February 24, 2013 on the road against the New York Islanders. He played in a career-high 37 games with the Hurricanes recording 6 points.

Sanguinetti and the Carolina Hurricanes were not able to agree to contract terms for the 2013–14 season, so he signed as a free agent in the Russian Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) on a two-year contract with Atlant Moscow Oblast on July 11, 2013.

On July 1, 2014, he signed a one-year free agent contract to return to the NHL with the Vancouver Canucks.

On July 2, 2015, Sanguinetti left the Canucks organization as a free agent and signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Buffalo Sabres. He made 40 appearances for Buffalo’s AHL affiliate Rochester Americans in the 2015-16 season, tallying seven goals and eight assists, and did not see any NHL action.

Upon the conclusion of the season, he took up an offer from Switzerland, signing with EHC Kloten of the National League A (NLA) on July 6, 2016. He finished the season with 29 points, including 9 goals in 44 contests, missing a few games with concussion-like symptoms.

On May 24, 2017, Sanguinetti agreed to a one-year contract with HC Lugano. The contract does contain an option for a second year but no NHL-out clause.